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Faith Is Like a Garden

From the heart of Jerusalem – poetry, tefila and songs illuminate Torah texts. Chassidic stories and original melodies are woven into a tapestry of musical styles, from quiet ballad and playful klezmer to folk-inspired world.

Genre: Spiritual: Jewish Folk

Release Date: 2006

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ABOUT THIS ALBUM

Album Notes

Through stories and lyrics woven from ancient wisdom into gentle, folk-inspired songs, Jerusalem’s Chasidic teacher/singer/songwriter “Ashira Morgenstern” continues to explore hidden dimensions of the Torah in ways that speak to the heart.

Ashira first began writing/presenting songs in 1978 as a student of Rebbetzin Sara Freifeld a”h in Far Rockaway, NY. After immigrating to Israel, she appeared in concerts (for women only) as an innovative way to teach Torah. Released in 2006, this recording of ten songs ranges in style from quiet ballad to playful klezmer and folk-inspired world.

“[Ashira’s music] represents a breakthrough for Jewish women because it is by and for the principles that govern our lives… a way to recapture the sense of community missing from today’s paradoxical society…” – Nama Frenkel, The Jewish Observer

“Her focus on themes of Jewish womanhood, combined with the fact that she performs in concert for women only, made Ashira’s appearance on the Jewish music scene an intriguing a phenomenon. Her decision to record and distribute her original songs while respecting Torah guidelines is one that has since been echoed by many orthodox Jewish women worldwide.” – Ruth Goldenberg, Women of Valor

“Ashira speaks and sings about Jewish women of the past and present , connecting their experiences. With a mixture of medrash and quiet, folk-music style, her original songs go straight to the heart...” – The Northwest Star

“As I listened to Ashira’s album the first time and then listened to it again and again for hours, my daughters were drawn to the music like bees to nectar.” – Y. Yahalom, HaModia

SONGS

01-THE RIVER

This song describes supernal and soon to be rebuilt Jerusalem, ultimate source of all wisdom and blessing. The Hebrew words are from Tehillim (Psalms) 46:5 "The river -- its streams will gladden the City of God, sanctified dwelling place of the Most High" and from Yishayahu (Isaiah) 12:3 " Draw water with rejoicing from wellsprings of salvation."Based on the Lekutey Moharan and the Sipurei Masiyoth of Rebbe Nachman of Breslov.

LYRICS:

Well, it could have been the way You smiled at me today,Or it could have been the sunlight as it danced upon the floor.I don't know if or when I'll feel like this again,But happiness is knocking and I'm opening the door.

Oh, the heart is like a city where many songs are sungTo celebrate each newborn day with joy forever young,'Cause the greatest of all treasures, there is no need to buy:That shining, dancing drop of light sparkling in your eye.

Joy - flowing like a river ever changing, never changing from the start,Bringing life to the city of your heart.

They say there is a river not so far awayWhere two golden birds they sing and fly to where they may.The heart beats with ten kinds of song upon this river wide;May ancient wisdom take you there, may courage be your guide.

The first of the 13 Tenets of Faith, by the Rambam. Reb Michel Dorfman z"l encouraged us to say this first tenet every day, so I decided to set it to a melody. The English lyrics/vocals were composed and recorded on my 40th day of davening (prayer) at the Kotel, 4th of Nissan 5766-2006.

ENGLISH LYRICS:

I believe with all my soul that our CreatorMay His Name bring blessing to us allIs creating and guiding everything seen and unseen And that He alone is the OneWho makes all in the past, the present, and in time to comeBeyond what I can conceiveI believe, oh I believe.

We have been waiting for You so very long,And though it seems that everything that can go wrongHas gone wrong…. Even so…

Literal translation of Hebrew: “Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped; then the lame shall skip like a gazelle and the tongue of the mute shall sing, for water has broken forth in the desert and streams in the plain” – Yeshayahu (Isaiah) 35:5-6.

LYRICS:

Circle dancers gathering hereSome with a smile, some with a tear.Lost and broken, joining handsPreparing for a circle danceThe blind can seeThe deaf can hear

Simple courage makes us wise.The light of hope is in our eyes.Just like mirrors clear and true,Reflecting all that we’ve been throughShattered voices reach the skies.

REFRAIN:

“The eyes of the blind shall be opened to seeAnd the ears of the deaf shall be opened to hearThe lame shall skip like deer on the hillAnd the tongue of the silent, the silent shall singAs water, crystal clear and sweetSprings from the wilderness, awakening the landHealing, wondrous and completeStreams in the desert sand.” (Yeshayahu 35:5-6)

According to eye-witness accounts of survivors, this song in Judeo-Espagnol (Ladino) was sung by the Jewish community of Rhodes as they were being transported to concentration camps in war-torn Europe. Ladino lyrics and melody – traditional.

Aris Nachum, who plays the Bouzouki on this recording, is the son of an accomplished musician who immigrated to Israel from Greece after miraculously surviving these transports.

ENGLISH LYRICS:

Trees weep for the rain, and mountains, for the windJust as my eyes weep for You, my Dear One, my Beloved.Again I say, what will become of me?In a foreign land I will surely die…

06-CHILD WITHIN"In order to fathom where we are going, we must look back at where we have been..." – Zohar Chadash

LYRICS:Child within, like a sunset star unfoldingWhat are the keys that you are holdingSo tightly in your hand?Child within, silent as the moon I see youAcross the years I’ve come to free youAnd it’s by your side I’ll stand.

Child within, in costumes and in masksYou are disguisedBut now the sun is rising in your eyesOh child, my own, hidden child within.

Child withinLike a sunset star... What are the keys?Silent as the moon... across the years I’ve come…Child within, like a sunset star unfoldingWhat are the keys that you are holdingSo tightly in your hand?Child within, silent as the moon I see youAcross the years I’ve come to free youAnd it’s by your side I’ll stand.

Child within, in costumes and in masksYou are disguisedBut now the sun is rising in your eyesOh child, my own, hidden child within.

Child within… like a sunset star… what are the keys?Silent as the moon… across the years I’ve come…

Thunder from a distant hill… curled up listeningRaindrops on a windowsill… streetlights glisteningAlong the mountain trail to the shining lake belowLeaning on a pine wood tree, no place to goWho will even try to find you here?Locked within a prison made of every fearLike an evening blackbird with a broken wingSomeday you’ll learn to fly and then you’ll sing!

Child within, the gates were locked until I found youAnd now with music I’ll surround you, as you give your hand to meChild within, like a sunset star unfoldingAnd all the keys that you are holdingAre the ones that set you freeAt last you’ve given them to me.

Rabbi Levi Yitzchak of Berditchev advised that this prayer should be recited three times after Shabbath to ask for success during the coming week. Although the words are widely attributed to him, the prayer can be found in several texts published before his birth, and at least one Torah scholar traces the prayer’s authorship to Rabbi Akiva.

Literal translation of Yiddish:God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, protect Your people, Israel, from all evil, [and may that protection serve as] Your praise. As the beloved, holy Sabbath takes leave [may] the coming week arrive to bring perfect faith, faith in scholars, love of and attachment to good friends, attachment to the Creator, Blessed is He, to have faith in Your Thirteen Principles, and in the complete and immediate Redemption, speedily in our days, in the Revival of the Dead and in the prophecy of our teacher, Moses, peace is upon him.

Master of the Universe, since You are the One Who gives strength to the weary – grant Your beloved Jewish children the strength to praise You, and to serve only You and no other. May this week arrive for kindness, for good fortune, for blessing, for success, for good health, for wealth and honor, and for lively, nourished children, for us and for all Israel. Amen.

ENGLISH LYRICS (Non-Literal Translation)

HaShem of Avraham, Yitzchak and YaakovWho followed in Your waysProtect Your People from all harmFor with our lives we sing your praiseAs this precious, holy ShabbosNow must take its leaveIn the coming week, let us worthy beOf all that we receive.

Guide us to good leaders, Good counsel and good friendsHold us near YouWith love that never endsTeach us to believe inYour thirteen principles of faithCarry us to freedomQuickly in our days

And help us to believe in the renewal of lifeAnd in the words of Moshe Rabeynu

Master of the World, You aloneStrengthen all who needHelp Your beloved childrenTo praise You in thought, word and deedAnd to serve only YouWe have no other KingYour kindness and good fortuneMay this new week bring

Grant us blessings that we can clearly seeHealth and happiness, wealth and dignity,Lively children please help us to sustainNot only for ourselves but for all Israel, Omen.

Based on "King and Emperor" - an allegory told by Rebbe Nachman of Breslov to describe the journey of every soul as it travels through this world.

LYRICS:

An emperor traveled the world around(With a hey and a ho, the wind and the tide)He wished for a child, but no cure could be found(Oh how the water is wide)He met a king with the very same needIf they were blessed, they both agreedTheir children would marry one another and soBack to their homes they both did go.

To the emperor was born a daughter fineWhile the kind had a son near the very same timeThey forgot their vow as the children grewBut the prince and the princess somehow knewThat they were one, so they took a standAnd the prince gave his lady a ring for her hand.

“My daughter, ‘tis time for you to wed.” “Oh father, I cannot for I love a lad.”So the prince and the princess ran to the bayWhere they hired a ship and they sailed awayUntil they came to a golden shoreWhere the princess lost the ring she wore.

Instrumental melody: “I’ll Wait for You”

Narration: The emperor’s daughter took the ring, gave it to the prince, and then lay down to sleep. When the prince saw that she was about to wake up, he placed the ring next to her. They returned to the ship, but when the Emperor’s daughter realized they had forgotten the ring, she sent the prince to find it. He could not find the place, so he searched here and there until finally he lost his way. The Emperor’s daughter went to look for him, but she also lost her way…

They searched everywhere with a broken heartBut the ring was lost and they wandered apartThe prince sold himself into slaveryWhile to save her life, the princess hid in a treeFour different men tried to capture herBecause she was the daughter of an emperorThe first, the son of a merchant was heBut the princess took his ship, and she fled to the sea.

The second man had wealth and a palace fineEleven maidservants she tricked with wineAgain she fled, playing music as they sailedAnd over deadly pirates they prevailed.The last evil man was a princely clownWith a burning glass, she cut him down.

All the while, the prince searched from place to place Near a stream was a portrait of his true love’s faceDisguised as a man, the princess concealedAll the secrets she knew, but never revealedUntil she was offered the kingly throneWhen she said, “True Prince, come, let us go home.”

In 1768 an estimated 30,000 Jewish men, women, and children were cruelly tortured and murdered by Cossack rebels and buried in a mass gravesite. It is with these holy martyrs that Rabbi Nachman of Breslov expressed his wish to remain after his passing. As a result, the shofar is sounded at this location every Rosh Hashanah, in the presence of thousands of Jews who come from all over the world to pray the traditional services together.

The Sofievka is a world-renown scenic park in Uman. Although it is some distance from the massacre, there is a tradition (not recorded in official Ukranian history) that it was actually built to commemorate a young girl who was killed by the Cossacks when her father – a prominent nobleman – tried to protect the Jews of the city.

LYRICS:

Upon a quiet riverside there stands a mighty treeWith roots that grow so deep and wide, and branches evergreenLifting its arms to hold back the tears of the skiesPressed against the winter wind, it cries.Once upon a time good people rested in its shadeAnd near this quiet riverside happy children playedMost of them were simple folk, never went to schoolsVery few were scholars, but none were foolsFor they lived by an eternal Truth, passed down to them with loveThere is but One G-d above. There is… but One G-d above.

Each one of them was given a chance to compromise“Deny your faith,” they were told, “Bow down and save your lives.”Small children saw their mothers and fathers torn limb from limbBut not even one of them gave in.In Sofievka park the flowers blossom every springNear waterfalls and woodlands dark that hide a shameful thingThirty thousand voices screaming to be savedSixty thousand hands in a shallow graveSomeday a generation will arise to understandHow even simple children, for faith took such a standFor faith, took such a stand.

Upon a quiet riverside there stands a mighty treeWith roots that grow so deep and wide, and branches evergreenPurple Morning Glories climb a whitewashed fenceAbove the severed limbs of innocentsThey thought the world would close its eyesThey thought we would forgetBut evil cannot be disguisedAnd the past is present yet

Gathering from distant landsTo pray here, every yearPerhaps all those faithful souls have reappeared.

For we are the flowing river of humanityAnd we are the living branchesOf that mighty tree, of that mighty treeSo we shall be their voicesAnd we shall be their handsFor we are the generation that finally understands.

Vocals: AshiraGuitars: Avi SingoldaMidi Tracks: Jeff HorvitchShofar: The shofar heard in this recording is the actual shofar that belonged to Rebbe Nachman of Breslov, as sounded by the Baal Tekia of the Uman Rosh Hashana gathering, Rav Zuckerman. The recording was added to the song tracks in the studio, and it was complete serendipity that the key of the song "happened" to be in the exact same key as the shofar. The engineer who placed the track that day turned white as a ghost. "Was this planned?" he asked, incredulously. But no, it was not planned -- at least, not by me.

10-FAITH IS LIKE A GARDEN

Translation of verses in Biblical Hebrew: “Trust in God and do good, dwell in the Land and nurture faith. Delight in God, and He will give you the yearnings of your heart.” – Tehillim (Psalms) 37: 3-4.

LYRICS:

They say that faith is like a weaponTo strike down all who don’t believeAnd that for faith life can be takenWhile the survivors are left to grieveBut we say faith -- it is a candleGlowing softly through the nightAnd all the darkness in the universeCannot diminish its humble light.

They say that faith is like an arrowThat can pierce a stony heartOr a fiery wall of misconceptionKeeping people far apartBut we say faith -- it is a smileWhen no reasons for joy remainAnd we say faith is like a gardenStanding in the summer rain.

REFRAIN: Tehillim (Psalms) 37: 3-4

Faith is the song that will ariseIt’s the light you see when you close your eyes

We have walked a lonesome pathwayBetween the mountains and the seaSearching for tomorrow’s purposeAsking for a way to beEvery question becomes an answerWhen you find a way to liveFaith is all that we are givenAnd it’s all we have to give.